Kolumba – Der Bau

In 1997, when Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architect Peter Zumthor won the design competition for the new Diocesan Museum in Cologne, he could only have guessed what difficulties he would encounter. Excavations at the site brought to light archaeological remains from 2,000 years of European building history. In addition, there was also the “Madonna of the Rubble” chapel on the site by architect Gottfried Böhm, which now has disappeared from the cityscape, to the chagrin of many.

In a remarkable long-term study, Ludwig Metzger followed the construction of the museum from the first project meetings in Zumthor's office in 2000 through to setting up its exhibits and the opening ceremony in 2007. He documents the production of bricks custom-built especially for the Kolumba Museum, and gives everyone involved – from the construction foreman to the plasterer, from museum leaders to local residents – an equal chance to have their say.

The ultimate challenge of architecture, according to Zumthor, is that of making space and not just facades; to edify emptiness. And he succeeds – despite various stakeholders’ attempts to shoot down his plans, which he shakes off nonchalantly or simply ignores. The end result is a uniquely meditative building, which although it is subordinate to the art, also impresses through the elegance of its reduced materiality and its quality craftsmanship.

Kolumba – Der Bau

Director: Ludwig Metzger
D 2007, 90', Digibeta, in German

Crew
Camera: Gottfried Betz, Krysztof Hampel, Jürgen Hasenack, Tommy Mann, Michael Norberg, Ulrich Prinz, Detlev Sackenheim, Irma Schneider, Norbert Tinnefeld, Lars Pohlig, Thomas Füllgrabe, Casper Thorsøe, Toni Dusek, Ingo Mainka
Montage: Brigitte Warken-Könings
Sound: Peter Cieslok, Katharina Groß, Jürgen Haase, Uwe Hanisch, Hans Christian Mebold, Florian Pankarz, Fabian Röttger, Henning Schiller, Rolf Skukies, Helmut Tengler, Andrzej Walkusz, Peter Thorsøe, Berni Göttler, Marcel Näf
Production: WDR, Reinhard Wulf